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This is a two-phase house that we developed for a couple who wanted to take advantage of their land but were not ready to commit the funds necessary to build the final house.
In doing phased houses, the critical thing to remember is to keep the transaction cost low; by that I mean the additional cost of doing it in two phases instead of all at once.
In the case of this house, we first built what would end up as the living room and screened porch, and then add- ed a 10'x18' “dependency” to the end that contained a tiny bedroom, small bathroom, and front porch. When we build phase two, the dependency is moved to the east and forms a downstairs bed/work room, and the living room module gets extended into a Greek revival farmhouse.
In phase one, the very small front porch of the dependency leads into a high-ceilinged space with a loft at the end. In phase two this large space will be a living room, but in the first phase, a small galley kitchen is where the fireplace will be in the phase two, and an eat- ing area is tucked in next to it looking out the windows to the east.
 In order to save money, we left all the interior finish off in phase one. In addition to sav- ing money in phase one, when we complete things in phase two, the entire inside finish of the house will be new and things will be tied together. Also, things like changing wir- ing in the phase one space will be easier to accomplish.
This little house turned out to be such fun to live in that my clients extended the time be- fore doing phase two, because until they had more time to live here, this “starter” was really all they needed.
Phase two will create a proper house, with a downstairs bed and bath (that doubles as a powder room), a full size kitchen, and a real dining area. What in phase one is the whole living area will become a nice high-ceilinged living room. Upstairs in phase two we will have a master bedroom and bath all under the slope of the roof.
On this site the long western side faces a hayfield and the eastern side is backed up to an oak forest with a rampaging stream running through it. The north side faces the river and really has the best scenic view. Since my clients loved all these views, we wanted the living room (in both phases) to look out in all three directions.
This is a house that will run along the edge of the field very comfortably, echoing the change of field to forest. These Greek revival farmhouses were almost always modest in size and very compact, and so the wide corners, broad fascia boards, and other complex trim details that echo Greek temple design change the scale of these buildings and make them very attractive to us. When large houses are done in this style, they lose the appeal that comes from this scale shift.
It’s important to note that these details and the quality of their execution can’t be cut back, or you will end up with a very hum- drum version of “Developer’s Colonial,” with none of the gem-like quality of this house. The red cedar shingled roof is a gorgeous thing that chang- es with the light of the day and whether it is wet or dry, and though expen- sive is one of the things that makes this house sing. Many of the houses in this portfolio are quite comfortable with asphalt-shingled roofs and shingled sidewalls, but this house will lose a great deal if cuts are made in this area.
Finally, if you really just want to build phase one and phase two may never happen, then it would make more sense to simply continue the steep higher roof over the dependency so the house is more unified. We didn’t do it because it will be easier to detach the depen- dency with a low roof, and when it forms an “Ell” we wanted it to still seem dependent and to not block the view of the stream to the east from the upper floor. If you build this house with the proper affection for the detailing and the exterior finishes, it will always be one the classiest houses in town. |
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